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Ebola outbreak: What you need to know about its spread

THE spread continues. The ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa has so far killed more than 670 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, making it the worst outbreak in the disease’s history. Now it has reached Lagos in Nigeria.

Patrick Sawyer seemed alright when he boarded a flight from Liberia on 20 July, but was showing symptoms of the disease by the time he arrived in Lagos. He died on 25 July.

Around 21 million people live in Lagos, Africa’s largest city, so an outbreak there could be disastrous. Nigerian officials are now screening passengers arriving on international flights, while Liberia has announced it has closed all but its major border crossings. It is also quarantining all affected villages.

Daniel Bausch at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, who has recently returned from Sierra Leone, says the priority should be to trace all contacts of the infected man – although it will be difficult. “It seems simplistic, but the logistics of tracing contacts of those infected is complex,” Bausch says.

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A shortage of health workers and the fact many are falling ill is adding to the problems. In Sierra Leone, some landlords are telling nurses not to return to their homes in case they are infected, says Bausch.

The outbreak is likely to last a few more months, he adds. “You can’t model all of the factors involved in the spread, so you just have to hope you have it under control.”

This article appeared in print under the headline “Ebola spread hits Nigeria”